Insider Selling: Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Insider Sells 7,662 Shares of Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) insider Anne Evans Kingston sold 7,662 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.47, for a total transaction of $64,897.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $472,473.54. This represents a 12.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Prothena Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of PRTA traded down $0.15 on Thursday, hitting $8.41. 502,233 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 535,030. Prothena Corporation plc has a 1 year low of $6.61 and a 1 year high of $11.80. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $9.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $440.26 million, a P/E ratio of -2.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of -0.31.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by $0.91. The firm had revenue of $51.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.81 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 260.92% and a negative return on equity of 43.44%. Research analysts forecast that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.18 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PRTA. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, May 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Prothena from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Prothena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PRTA. Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Prothena by 36.0% in the first quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322,669 shares during the last quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Prothena by 8.5% during the first quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,581,443 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,372,000 after acquiring an additional 123,679 shares during the last quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc increased its stake in Prothena by 93.0% during the first quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 207,403 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,016,000 after acquiring an additional 99,924 shares during the last quarter. Penbrook Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Prothena in the 1st quarter worth about $2,641,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Prothena by 134.6% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 65,070 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 37,337 shares during the period. 97.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Prothena Company Profile

Prothena Corporation plc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapies for neurodegenerative and rare diseases driven by misfolded proteins. The company’s research focuses on immunotherapies and small molecules designed to target and clear disease-causing protein aggregates. Prothena leverages proprietary protein engineering and antibody discovery platforms to advance candidates through preclinical and clinical stages.

The company’s most advanced program is an antibody targeting aggregated alpha-synuclein for the potential treatment of Parkinson’s disease, currently in mid-stage clinical trials.